I was approached to do photography for a company that distills and bottles alcoholic drinks. They want to use images of their products on a site they are having designed for them. Photographing bottles is a pain! Not considering the lighting issues, the reflections are a killer. The images I came up with are far from my satisfaction. I am making it my mission to figure out how to come up with well lit, clear and free of unnecessary reflection bottle images. My understanding is, there is a huge market for that kind of photography around. I took a look at the KWAL site, and I must say the images of the bottles on it left me feeling like it could have been done better. Motivation enough to master this very tricky art!
To do this shoot, I had to borrow lights from a friend. Let's just say I am now fully sold on having my own pair! The quality was out of this world! My brother happened to come along as I was setting them up, and I did a few test shots with him as the subject. Top notch quality! Even Ramon was impressed! I also took a few test shots of a cactus plant I got as a gift (long story for another day if I'm bribed well enough :) ).
I was to return the lights today, waiting on word from the bottle clients on whether I would be given the shoot or not. Yet I had caught the bug. I had to have lights like this. So today I spent it walking around with my friend whose lights I had borrowed window shopping for a pair of my own. I got a good deal on the same type as my friend's, and now I can say that Ramon and Raul have been joined by my latest photographic acquisition. It's time now to do some serious shooting!
I have also ordered the book, Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting which according to many sites I visited trying to figure out this bottle photography thing has been recommended as the one stop shop for all things light. The authors cover it to a great detail, not in a cook book kind of way, but drilling down into the theory of it. You end up with a great understanding of light after reading it. They also have an entire chapter on photographing reflective objects. I hope to get it end of this month, and when I do, it's going to be nothing but light, light light!
In my web searches, I also came across the Photoflex Lighting School which looks very promising. It has step by step instructions complete with photos of the setup. The resources for the determined person are there aplenty. Time now to take advantage of all this and take my photography to the next level.
Tomorrow I have a model shoot. That will be my first job with my new lights. Exciting times these!
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Lights!
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6 comments:
Hey egm,
I can see kit is just getting bigger.
May I suggest using the diffuser to block any light reflecting on the bottles. I think you need to invest on a bracket for this unless you have an assistant.
Good work!
Looking forward to more photos!
EK13
Actually what I want to get is a pair of soft boxes. I was told I can get them for about 3k each, so as soon as I have that pesa, it's soft boxes on the lights. Those are recommended as the best to use to photo bottles since their light is evenly diffuse. As you say, to use the one I have, I either need an assistant or a bracket to hold it in place. Ama I can set the camera on a tripod and self timer, then hold the diffuser in place.
Hi egm, I was going to suggest that you use the square silvery thingymajig that I see carted around by photographers (and film makers) here. Then EK13 kindly supplied the name: diffuser.
One thing a film maker told me eons ago is that "the camera is racist," which is why, I suppose, Oprah tells folk not to wear white on her show, and why Simon Baker had to wear tons of tan spray in 'something new'. So, just how do photographers address having to photograph different skin tones in one picture? It's a lighting/reflection issue, yes?
egm....aki I have to agree with turistaafricana about the camera being racist.
I take pics of white people in dark places and the pics tokea best sana....but when it comes to nyeuthi....alek wek has nothing on you.
We need to explore this when I am in town next year. Hopefully, by then I will have found a solution.
Rista
The diffuser still doesn't solve the problem of the reflection.There's a site I saw with plenty good advice that I'll try and follow. Check out this site that goes into some detail on how to get a good bottle shot. Looking at how much work goes into this, I am not surprised when I read of a company that charges 65 USD per bottle!
Well, in good indoor lighting, that is no problem. Shida kicks in when I'm doing a wedding, and the photo session has been scheduled for right smack in the middle of the day at high noon with the sun right above you and the couple in question happens to be of mixed race. Do you expose for the white or the black? In one wedding while doing the family shots after the service, the people were half in-half out of shade. The blacks had put themselves under the shade, and the whites under the sun. I had to have the switch positions to get good pictures out of them. They certainly laughed at that request!
EK13
Heh, as above on my experiences with white/black folk!
LOL at rearranging the races for the wedding photo- I can imagine the "did he just say that" moment before the necessity of the move was clarified :).
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